This invention relates generally to the field of archery, and more specifically and more particularly to a bow sight to improve the aim and accuracy of an archery shot.
Aiming and sighting has always been important in archery, although such aiming has historically been as simple as sighting down the length of the arrow. Ancient archers would raise the attitude of the bow, then view the tip of the arrow and line it up with a point on the field. The higher the attitude of the bow and point of the arrow, the farther the shot would travel, and ancient archers became accustomed to how far the arrow would travel in such a manner. In modern times, more sophisticated sighting devices placed upon the bow have come about, however, these sighting devices share the common feature that some object upon the bow is lined up with the target at which the arrow is to be fired. This type of sighting is referred to herein as "off bow sighting".
The most common sighting device in use today incorporates a rack such as that shown in FIG. 2. As the rack 12 is commonly used, it is mounted so as to be on the side of the bow 2 opposite that shown in FIG. 2, so that the bow is between the rack and the archer, rather than the rack being between the bow and the archer. The rack contains a multiplicity of slots, usually three or four, and within the slots are placed a series of pins which may be placed as desired within the slots and fixed in place by tightening the threads. Simply described, this type of off bow sighting is accomplished by placing the appropriate pin over the target. The series of pins accomplishes much the same function as the ancient archer's positioning the point of the arrow over a point down field. As increased distance is desired, a pin which is positioned lower on the rack is sighted over the target, having the effect of raising the attitude of the bow, thereby allowing for different distances. The archer uses the series of pins to match the desired attitude of the bow with the distance that the arrow will travel, given the particular strength of the archer and the bow. The archer then will generally position the pins for targets which are 25, 50, or 75 yards away, or whatever interval the archer may desire.
While the rack and pin sighting device of the prior art can be set to achieve relative accuracy with regard to the angle of elevation, thereby correcting the distance the shot is to travel, it does not aid the archer in positively determining the spacial orientation of the bow. The conventional one pin per distance sight is based on a single axis, which is a line extending from the eye of the archer, through the sight pin and to the target. The spacial orientation of the bow with reference to the viewer and the target may result in the apparent proper alignment of the sight pin over the target, yet the bow may be rotated inadvertently around the longitudinal axis (y-axis) of the bow while the sight pin still appears to be in the same relative position over the target. Through natural ability and instinct, sharpened with practice, the archer attempts to reduce the spacial orientation of the bow to the single axis line of sight, minimizing the effect of parallax.
The present invention uses the rack and pin sighting commonly in use as a means of off-bow sighting to establish elevation by rotation in a plane containing the y-axis and the bowstring. However, the present invention improves the prior art by providing positive spacial orientation. This is accomplished by means of a second sighting pin located on the bow, and a target which is also located on the bow, which is called herein "on-bow" sighting. The purpose of the on-bow sighting operation is to determine a line of sight from the archer, through the sighting pin to the on-bow target, for the purpose of controlling the rotation of the bow around its y-axis. In use, as will be more fully demonstrated herein, the archer aligns the on-bow sight pin over the on-bow target, while simultaneously aligning the selected off-bow sight pin with the intended target, and by doing so eliminates the parallax problem, resulting in an accurate shot. The on-bow/off-bow sight yields consistency and reproducibility of results. As will be seen more fully herein, the on-bow sight pin position is set for each archer's shooting characteristics. While archers of similar strength and build may be able to use the same sight pin position, the device allows for additional pins so that more than one archer can use the bow.